NHS Postcode Directory User Guide

Transcription

1 NHS Postcode Directory User Guide Edition: November 2017 Editor: ONS Geography Office for National Statistics November 2017

2 A National Statistics Publication National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are produced free from political influence. About Us Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to Parliament. ONS is the UK government s single largest statistical producer. It compiles information about the UK s society and economy, and provides the evidence-base for policy and decision-making, the allocation of resources, and public accountability. The Directors General of ONS report directly to the National Statistician who is the Authority's Chief Executive and the Head of the Government Statistical Service. Government Statistical Service The Government Statistical Service (GSS) is a network of professional statisticians and their staff operating both within the ONS and across more than 30 other government departments and agencies. Copyright and Reproduction Please refer to the 'Postcode products' section on our Licences page for the terms applicable to these products. TRADEMARKS Gridlink is a registered trademark of the Gridlink Consortium and may not be used without the written consent of the Gridlink Programme Board. The Gridlink logo is a registered trademark. AddressBase is a registered trademark of Ordnance Survey (OS), the national mapping agency of Great Britain. Boundary-Line is a trademark of OS, the national mapping agency of Great Britain. Pointer is a registered trademark of Land and Property Services, an Executive Agency of the Department of Finance and Personnel (Northern Ireland). Contacts This publication For information about the content of this publication, contact ONS Geography Customer Services Tel: ons.geography@ons.gsi.gov.uk Other customer enquiries ONS Customer Contact Centre Tel: International: +44 (0) Minicom: info@ons.gsi.gov.uk Fax: Post: Room 1.101, Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, Newport, South Wales NP10 8XG Media enquiries Tel: media.relations@ons.gsi.gov.uk Office for National Statistics 2

3 Contents 1. Introduction News Ward:Health Matrix Wards Boundary-Line Errors Corrected NHS Commissioning Region and NHS Region (Geography) Changes CCG Changes NHS England (Region, Local Office) Changes London Strategic Clinical Network (SCN) Licensing Requirements Postcode Counts and Currency Currency of the Administrative and Health Geographies Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Postcode Format Currency of Data Gridlink Grid References Assignment of Postcodes to Geographies on the NHSPD PO Boxes and Non-geographic Postcodes Terminated Postcodes Postcode Reorganisations Former Strategic Health Authorities (SHA), Health Boards and Health & Social Care Board Pseudo Country Postcodes Former Primary Care Organisations (PCO), Local Health Boards (LHB), Community Health Partnerships (CHP) and Local Commissioning Groups (LCG) Census Enumeration Districts (ED) Census Output Areas (OA) Postcodes Assigned to both English and Scottish 2001 Census OAs Census Super Output Areas (SOA) and Scottish Data and Intermediate Zones (DZ & IZ) Former Pan SHAs Regions (Former Government Office Regions - GOR) Electoral Wards Census Urban/Rural Indicators Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies Former Cancer Networks Office for National Statistics 3

4 27. Cancer Registries Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) NHS England (Regions) (NHSER) NHS England (Region, Local Offices) (NHSRLO) Strategic Clinical Networks (SCN) Census Output Areas (OA) Census Super Output Areas (SOA) and Scottish Data and Intermediate Zones (DZ & IZ) Names and Codes Directory Specifications Use of the NHSPD Limitations/Data Quality Table 1 - Numbers of Postcodes by User Type Table 2 - Numbers of Postcodes, Postcode Sectors and Postcode Districts Table 3 - Numbers of Postcodes with a Grid Reference Table 4 - Numbers of Terminated Postcodes Annex A - NHSPD Record Specification Annex B Census Very Small Population Wards and Their Assigned OA Office for National Statistics 4

5 1. Introduction The NHS Postcode Directory (NHSPD) relates both current and terminated postcodes in the United Kingdom to a range of current statutory administrative, electoral, health and other area geographies. It also links postcodes to pre-2002 health areas, 1991 Census enumeration districts (for England and Wales) and both 2001 Census and 2011 Census Output Areas and Super Output Areas. It helps support the production of area based statistics from postcoded data. The NHSPD is produced by ONS Geography, who provide geographic support to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and geographic services used by other organisations. We issue the NHSPD quarterly. This User Guide contains information about the NHSPD including: directory content; data currency; latest news, including area changes; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data format; summary statistics; and data quality and limitations. The NHSPD reflects current and terminated postcodes using information supplied on a monthly basis by Royal Mail. The NHSPD relates postcodes (as at the third Friday of the month prior to each release) to administrative and electoral areas as at the preceding May and also to the latest known health areas. The area assignments for postcodes in Scotland are to the latest electoral wards and Council Areas. The area assignments for postcodes in Northern Ireland are to the latest electoral wards and District Council Areas. The NHSPD uses the Government Statistical Service (GSS) standard 9-character codes for administrative and electoral areas and the ODS codes for health areas. Lookup files linking these codes to statutory area names are included with the NHSPD. You are encouraged to adopt the ONS standard names and codes where possible, as these are the recognised standard for National Statistics. The Gridlink methodology used to create the NHSPD, based on 1-metre grid references and digital administrative and electoral area boundaries, was introduced in November Further information on the Gridlink initiative is provided in Section 9. The record specification at Annex A includes complete details of all available fields. 2. News 2.1 Ward:Health Matrix From November 2017 the Ward:Health matrix will only be available on request. Please contact ONS Geography Customer Services if you still require a copy Wards The 2017 ward changes were included on the NHSPD from May Boundary-Line Errors Corrected The Isles of Scilly (Electoral Changes) Order 2017 was not processed on the draft release of OS Boundary-Line. There are five wards with the wrong code: E Bryher should be E E St. Agnes should be E E St. Martin's should be E E St Marys should be E E Tresco should be E Office for National Statistics 5

6 Also: S Clydebank Central should be S W Brynford should be W W Halkyn should be W These errors have been corrected for the final release of Boundary-Line in November NHS Commissioning Region and NHS Region (Geography) Changes From 1 April 2017, NHS Commissioning Regions (NHS CR) are known as NHS England (Regions) and NHS Regions (Geography) (NHS RG) are known as NHS England (Regions, Local Office). 2.5 CCG Changes From 1 April 2017, a new CCG - NHS Morecambe Bay - has been created with the code 01K. This replaces NHS Lancashire North CCG. On the same date, NHS Cumbria CCG (01H) became NHS North Cumbria CCG (01H). Also, NHS Central Manchester CCG (00W), NHS North Manchester CCG (01M) and NHS South Manchester CCG (01N) have merged to create NHS Manchester CCG (14L). And there is a boundary change between NHS Norwich CCG (06W) and NHS South Norfolk CCG (06Y). 2.6 NHS England (Region, Local Office) Changes Also from 1 April 2017, the former NHS England North (Lancashire) became NHS England North (Lancashire and South Cumbria) with the code Q London Strategic Clinical Network (SCN) Newly-created SCN boundaries, available on the Open Geography portal, show London as a single area. North West and South London (N44) and North and East London (N61) merged shortly after the SCNs were created in 2013, however the NHSPD shows the two London areas. 3. Licensing Requirements Unit postcodes remain the copyright of Royal Mail. All other information on the NHSPD is Crown copyright. You should be aware of the attribution and sub-licensing requirements associated with the use of the Code-Point Open data (from which our postcode products are derived) contained in the OS OpenData Licence, namely that the licensee: Must always use the following attribution statements to acknowledge the source of the information: Contains OS data Crown copyright and database rights [year] Contains Royal Mail data Royal Mail copyright and database rights [year] Contains National Statistics data Crown copyright and database rights [year] Must ensure that the same attribution statements are contained in any sub-licences of the Information that are granted, together with a requirement that any further sub-licences do the same. You should note that following agreement with Land and Property Services (LPS) Northern Ireland, Open Government Licensing terms do not apply to NI postcodes; separate licensing terms and conditions now apply in the form of an LPS End User licence or contact LPS directly for commercial use. Please see the Licences web page for further details. Note: We do not have the capability to deal with detailed postcode queries relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland, but can pass them on to the appropriate government departments. 4. Postcode Counts and Currency The NHSPD contains postcodes within the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. They are current to the previous month and include both live and terminated postcodes. Table 1 shows the split between large and small users by country, and the change in the numbers of postcodes since the previous quarter. Office for National Statistics 6

7 Table 2 shows the numbers of postcodes, postcode sectors and postcode districts by postcode area. Table 3 shows the numbers of postcodes assigned grid references by positional quality indicator, country and user type. Table 4 shows the numbers of terminated postcodes. 5. Currency of the Administrative and Health Geographies This release of the NHSPD relates current postcodes in the United Kingdom to May 2017 administrative areas, April 2017 NHS England (Regions, Local Office) (former NHS Regions (Geography)), May 2010 electoral areas, July 2006 former health areas, to July 2015 Clinical Commissioning Groups and to April 2015 NHS England (Regions) (former Commissioning Regions) and Strategic Clinical Networks. 6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Why are some postcodes not assigned to administrative and electoral areas? - This mainly applies to new postcodes, which are assigned grid references by ONS Geography using imputation techniques - see Sections 9 and 10. In some cases the imputation procedure cannot assign a grid reference and, because the Gridlink processing system assigns postcodes to administrative and electoral areas using grid references with digital administrative and electoral area boundaries, codes for the administrative and electoral areas cannot be derived. In time, the addresses in the new postcodes are surveyed by Ordnance Survey (OS), who then assign accurate grid references. Why are some postcodes assigned to the wrong administrative and electoral areas? - There are two reasons: 1. Imputation: Some postcodes are assigned to administrative and electoral areas using an imputed grid reference. Imputation is not an exact science and can cause postcodes to be wrongly assigned until more accurate information becomes available. 2. Straddling: As the postal and administrative/electoral geographies do not map directly onto one another, postcodes often other boundaries. Postcodes are always assigned to single administrative and electoral areas based upon a single grid reference (which is the mean of all the addresses in the postcode, snapped to the address closest to the mean). This will inevitably lead to apparent wrong assignments, where addresses in a postcode fall in two administrative/electoral areas (see Section 7). Why don t postcode areas follow administrative and electoral area boundaries? - Postcode areas are defined and used by Royal Mail for the purpose of efficient mail delivery and have no relationship with administrative and electoral areas. Royal Mail requires a relatively stable geography in order to deliver its services, which the administrative and electoral area geography cannot provide. Why do some postcodes appear to move around? - There are three main reasons: 1. Update: As the grid reference allocation is updated from imputed to surveyed (see Section 6), so the allocation of one or more geographies may also change. 2. Drift: With demolition and new-build, the addresses that constitute a postcode may change. If this happens the centroid grid reference will also change, and the geography allocations will be updated accordingly. Office for National Statistics 7

8 3. Re-use: Royal Mail endeavour to never re-use a postcode, but under some circumstances a postcode may be terminated and then brought back into use in a different location. If this happens, the grid reference and geography allocations will change accordingly. 7. Postcode Format The NHSPD contains fixed length 8-character postcode format and the variable length e-gif (e- Government Interoperability Framework) standard postcode format. The latter allows for a single space between the two (outward and inward) parts of the postcode (see Annex A). 8. Currency of Data Postcodes We receive information about postcode changes from Royal Mail on a monthly basis and so the currency of the UK postcodes on any version of the NHSPD will usually be to the third Friday in the previous month. Administrative/electoral and health areas Information about the currency of administrative/electoral and health areas on the NHSPD is contained in Section Gridlink The postcode is a key piece of data that can provide a geo-spatial reference for many uses beyond the delivery of mail. In order to make full use of its potential, and to deliver improved consistency, a consortium of organisations was formed in 1999 to allow the specialist resources of each member to be pooled. The Gridlink Consortium consists of Royal Mail Group plc, OS (GB), National Records of Scotland (NRS), Northern Ireland Land and Property Services (LPS) and ONS. It was recognised that a core set of data within each Consortium member s postcode products needed to be consistent and branded. The branding name is 'Gridlink ' and the core data are: All current (i.e. live ) UK unit postcodes (but ONS maintains postcodes terminated and not subsequently re-used by Royal Mail). Grid references to 1 metre resolution. Positional quality indicators for grid references. UK country codes. Electoral ward codes. Administrative local authority district (LAD) codes. Administrative unitary authority (UA) codes. Administrative county codes. Health regional area codes. Health authority codes. Each of the Gridlink Consortium members produces their postcode products based upon the core data. 10. Grid References Postcode grid references in the NHSPD consist of both a 4 digit Easting and 5 digit Northing 100 metre grid reference and a 5 digit Easting and 6 digit Northing 1 metre grid reference. In the case of the 100 metre grid references, they are plotted to the South West corner of the 100 metre squares. The majority of postcode grid references are derived from OS MasterMap. Newly introduced postcodes will initially have a grid reference that has been imputed by ONS Geography. In due course these will be replaced by improved OS MasterMap grid references which use data supplied by OS field surveyors. Office for National Statistics 8

9 Each grid reference is given a Positional Quality Indicator (PQI) to denote the accuracy of the grid reference, as follows: 1 within the building of the matched address closest to the postcode mean, 2 as for 1 above, except by visual inspection of Landline maps (Scotland only), 3 approximate to within 50 metres, 4 postcode unit mean (mean of matched addresses with the same postcode, but not snapped to an address), 5 imputed by ONS, by reference to surrounding postcode grid references, 6 postcode sector mean (mainly PO Boxes), 8 terminated postcode, last known ONS grid reference used, 9 no co-ordinates available. The grid references provided for Northern Ireland postcodes are derived from the LPS product Pointer and use the Irish National Grid system that covers all of Ireland and is independent of the British National Grid. No grid references are provided for postcodes in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. 11. Assignment of Postcodes to Geographies on the NHSPD Administrative and electoral areas As part of the Gridlink initiative, postcodes in Great Britain are assigned to administrative and electoral areas by OS (GB) using a point-in-polygon methodology that matches grid references for postcodes (derived from OS MasterMap see previous section) against their Boundary-Line product. The draft version of Boundary-Line is produced in May and contains all administrative and electoral area boundary changes to that month, and is used for the May version of the NHSPD. Any errors, omissions or inconsistencies in this draft version are corrected by OS for the final release in October, which is then included in the November NHSPD. A similar process is used by LPS in Northern Ireland, which enables us to produce a UK postcode directory. Health areas and administrative and electoral areas Changes to administrative and electoral area boundaries are not automatically applied to health areas so the two boundary sets have ceased to be co-terminous, but the impact on postcode assignments has been minimised through use of digital health area boundaries either defined in terms of co-terminous administrative and electoral areas or built from 2011 Census Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA). Similarly, in Scotland, administrative and electoral boundary changes do not routinely affect health boundaries although health area boundaries may later be altered to align with changed administrative and electoral area boundaries. As changes to administrative and electoral boundaries in Northern Ireland usually change about every 10 years boundary co-terminosity is more stable than elsewhere in the UK. Other geographies held on the NHSPD Organisation Data Service (ODS) allocate identifiers for top-tier local authority organisations in England and Wales, in the field ODSLAUA. The value held in this field will not necessarily correspond to the value held in the field 'OSLAUA'. Where ODSLAUA holds the value for a county council organisation, OSLAUA will hold the value for the geography of one of its constituent local authority districts. Office for National Statistics 9

10 Other area assignments are based on point-in-polygon techniques and the appropriate digital boundaries. 12. PO Boxes and Non-geographic Postcodes Non-geographic postcodes can either be special postcodes assigned to some large users of the postal service or PO Boxes that lie within a (pseudo) postcode district that does not form a discrete part of a post town. These will all have been assigned a grid reference, usually the local Royal Mail sorting office, and the majority have a PQI of 1 but some were assigned a PQI of 6 (see Section 10). 13. Terminated Postcodes Postcodes are terminated by Royal Mail for various reasons but most commonly it is due to the demolition/re-development of buildings or to postcode reorganisations (see next section). Terminated postcodes are occasionally re-used by Royal Mail but not usually before an elapsed period of two or three years. In such circumstances, all terminated postcodes and their grid references are retained on the NHSPD and a 'termination' date is added which provides a clear indication of a postcode s status. Areal data assigned to terminated postcodes are updated prior to each release of the NHSPD, so the directory contains current information linked to each record. If, and when, a postcode is subsequently re-used by Royal Mail the old grid reference and termination date are removed, thus deleting all reference to the former existence of the postcode from the NHSPD. The new location of the postcode will initially have a grid reference imputed by ONS Geography, which will eventually be replaced by an improved one derived from OS AddressBase. As the Gridlink system processes only live postcodes it is not possible to assign Gridlink quality grid references to postcodes terminated prior to November Grid references for these postcodes have been copied from the old 'Traditional' postcode directory and have been given a single PQI (value 8). The numbers of terminated postcodes included in each issue of the NHSPD are shown in Table Postcode Reorganisations Royal Mail occasionally conducts postcode reorganisations in order to create more postcodes in areas where the number of postcodes that can be created under the current structure is exhausted. For example, SO3 was reorganised some years ago into SO31 and SO32 to cater for current demands, and the reorganisation additionally allows SO33-SO39 postcodes to be assigned at a later date. Royal Mail issue lists of postcode reorganisations in their 'Update' series, details of which can be found at their website. 15. Former Strategic Health Authorities (SHA), Health Boards and Health & Social Care Board The maintenance of health area codes is the responsibility of the ODS in England, and ONS on behalf of NHS Scotland and Health Solutions Wales. These areas were reorganised in England in 2002, in Wales in 2003 and in Scotland in The SHAs in England were further reorganised by the NHS on 1 July 2006 to reduce the number from 28 to 10 before being abolished on 31 March In Northern Ireland the health & social care board effective from 1 April 2009 replaced the four previous health & social services boards. Details of the various code ranges are given at Annex A, and information regarding the latest changes can be found in Section 2. The following health authority codes apply to Channel Islands and the Isle of Man: Office for National Statistics 10

11 YAC Isle of Man YAD Jersey YAE Guernsey (incl. Sark and Herm) YAF Alderney 16. Pseudo Country Postcodes ONS maintains a set of pseudo country postcodes relating to the UK and overseas countries for use within the NHS. These are used for providing a postcode value where the UK postcode structure does not apply or where within the UK a postcode is unable to be provided. A full list of the pseudo country postcodes is provided in the documentation accompanying the NHSPD. The NHSPD pseudo postcode file holds information at 'sub-country' level, with one pseudo postcode per country. It also contains regions, islands etc that form part of a country (and therefore share the same pseudo postcode - Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands sharing the same pseudo postcode as Scotland, for example). The pseudo country postcodes are included on all versions of the NHSPD and are assigned pseudo SHA and CCG codes of Q99 and X98 respectively. No other areal data is held for these postcodes. 17. Former Primary Care Organisations (PCO), Local Health Boards (LHB), Community Health Partnerships (CHP) and Local Commissioning Groups (LCG) Postcodes on the NHSPD have been assigned PCO codes (England), LHB codes (Wales), CHP codes (Scotland), LCG codes (NI) or Primary Healthcare Directorate code (Isle of Man). Postcodes in the Channel Islands (for which there are no equivalent areas) have been assigned a pseudo code. The primary care geography in England was reorganised significantly on 1 October When PCOs were statutorily defined, they were done so in terms of whole local authority districts and/or electoral wards (in most instances) that existed at the time. There were 146 Primary Care Trusts (PCT) and five Care Trusts in place when they were abolished on 31 March The 22 LHBs in Wales (from 1 April 2003) merged to form seven LHBs on 1 October CHPs were established by the NHS Boards in Scotland as key building blocks in the modernisation of the NHS joint services. Managed jointly by local authorities and health boards, CHPs nested within Council Area boundaries but some crossed Health Board boundaries. In April 2012, the 36 CHPs became 34, covering the whole of Scotland. CHPs were terminated on 31 March Five LCGs were introduced in Northern Ireland on 1 April A single Primary Healthcare Directorate was introduced in the Isle of Man in 2008 to support the rollout of NHS systems Census Enumeration Districts (ED) 1991 Census EDs are assigned to postcodes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For postcodes in England and Wales, there were originally two types of assignment: Postcodes existing at the 1991 Census where an ED was assigned using information on the census forms. These were mostly residential postcodes. Postcodes existing at the 1991 Census where an ED could not be assigned using Census forms or postcodes introduced since the 1991 Census where an ED has been assigned by point-inpolygon techniques. These were a mix of residential and business postcodes. Over time, the use of the original methodology to assign EDs to postcodes caused inaccuracies for some allocations. From February 2007, the common point-in-polygon methodology was introduced to allocate all postcodes to EDs, bringing this geography in line with the majority on the NHSPD. EDs use the postcode 1m grid reference to obtain an accurate assignment. Office for National Statistics 11

12 EDs have not been assigned to postcodes in Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The ED field holds a pseudo code for postcodes in these countries Census Output Areas (OA) Postcodes were originally assigned to 2001 Census OAs by one of two methods. Method 1: A postcode to OA lookup was compiled incorporating those 1.52 million postcodes existing at the date of the 2001 Census (29 April) used to create OAs. The design of the OAs was constrained by those electoral ward boundaries promulgated in Statutory Instruments by the end of December Consequently some postcodes were split by the electoral ward boundaries. In these instances the split postcodes were assigned to a single OA on the basis of where the majority of the population was located. This differed from the methodology used to assign postcodes to electoral wards and administrative areas, which use the grid reference of the address closest to the postcode mean and digital boundaries. Assigning postcodes to OAs using a population-weighted methodology and the best-fitting OAs to electoral wards can result in different postcode:electoral ward assignments when compared to a direct address-weighted point-in-polygon assignment (i.e. Gridlink ). This is because there may be more people in one part of a split postcode which results in the whole postcode being assigned to a particular OA yet, in some circumstances, there may be more addresses in the other part of the split which results in the postcode being assigned to a different OA. Within the 1.52 million postcodes, some 267,354 large user postcodes, mainly large employer PO Box postcodes, were reviewed for the purpose of producing Census statistics because their grid references were linked to the local Royal Mail sorting office rather than their physical location. The large user postcodes included in the review were assigned to the appropriate OAs based on their geographical location but their Gridlink grid references were not changed. Consequently, the use of point-in-polygon methodology to assign these postcodes to OAs produced different OA assignments to those included on the lookup. Method 2: The remaining 0.54 million postcodes in England and Wales, which comprise both new postcodes since April 2001 and postcodes terminated prior to that date, were assigned to an OA using a set of digital OA boundaries and their Gridlink grid references. Over time, the use of the original methodologies to assign OAs to postcodes caused inaccuracies for some allocations. From August 2006, the common point-in-polygon methodology used in 'Method 2', above, was introduced to allocate all postcodes to OAs, bringing this geography in line with the majority on the NHSPD Postcodes Assigned to both English and Scottish 2001 Census OAs National Records of Scotland (NRS) maintains a separate Scottish postcode directory called the Postcode Index. Two postcodes assigned to Scottish OAs in the Postcode Index (because a part of each postcode falls in Scotland) are assigned to English OAs in the NHSPD (because the part of each postcode falling in England comprises a larger population). The postcodes are TD9 0TU and TD15 1UY. Consequently, the assignments for these postcodes will differ between the NHSPD and the Postcode Index Census Super Output Areas (SOA) and Scottish Data and Intermediate Zones (DZ & IZ) SOAs exist in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; the Scottish equivalents are DZs and IZs (originally called Intermediate Geographies IG). Office for National Statistics 12

13 England and Wales The Lower Layer SOAs (LSOA) have been designed with a mean population figure of 1500 and each consists of a grouping of OAs, typically five. There are 34,378 LSOAs, with an absolute minimum population size of 1,000. The Middle Layer SOAs (MSOA) have a mean population figure of 7,200 (minimum 5,000) and consist of a grouping of LSOAs. MSOAs are constrained by the 2003 local authority boundaries used for 2001 Census outputs. Scotland DZs are the core Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics geography. There are 6,505 DZs, each containing between 500 and 1,000 household residents. IZs are the geography that sits above DZs and they have a minimum population of 2,500-6,000, which are of a size between the LSOAs and MSOAs in England and Wales. There are 1,235 IZs. 21. Former Pan SHAs Three pan SHAs replaced the 5 'IT Clusters' from 1 April 2007 and IT Clusters replaced directorates of health and social care from July 2003 to 31 March Each pan SHA consisted of a group of strategic health authorities and they are included in the 'HRO' field. They were abolished on 31 March 2013 and replaced by NHS commissioning regions (NHSCR). The NHSCRs became NHS England (Regions) (NHS ER) in May 2017 (see below). 22. Regions (Former Government Office Regions - GOR) The 9 GORs were abolished on 1 April 2011 and are now known as 'regions' for statistical purposes. They were the primary statistical subdivisions of England and also the areas in which the Government Offices for the Regions fulfilled their role. Each GOR covered a number of local authorities and will remain, as a frozen geography, on the NHSPD Electoral Wards Electoral wards existing as at the end of 1998 are included on the NHSPD. The significance of these codes is that the initial Neighbourhood Statistics data were released for 1998 electoral wards Census Urban/Rural Indicators England & Wales The urban and rural classification of postcodes for England and Wales allows datasets to be analysed according to different types of urban and rural area. This is based on the National Statistics urban and rural classification of Output Areas (OA) released on 21 July 2004: the product of joint work between the Countryside Agency, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, National Assembly for Wales and Office for National Statistics. Postcodes have been assigned to the urban or rural category of the OA into which each falls. OAs are treated as 'urban' if the majority of their population live within settlements with a population of 10,000 or more. The remaining 'rural' OAs are grouped into three other broad morphological types based on the predominant settlement component i.e. whether the population density for the OA shows characteristics that are predominantly town and fringe, predominantly village or predominantly dispersed (the latter includes hamlets and isolated dwellings). The classification also categorises OAs based on context i.e. whether the wider surrounding area of a given OA is sparsely populated or less sparsely populated: 1 = Urban 10k sparse: OA falls within urban settlements with a population of 10,000 or more and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated; Office for National Statistics 13

14 2 = Town and Fringe sparse: OA falls within the Town and Fringe category and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated; 3 = Village sparse: OA falls within the Village category and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated; 4 = Hamlet and Isolated Dwelling sparse: OA falls within the Hamlet and Isolated Dwelling category and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated; 5 = Urban 10k less sparse: OA falls within urban settlements with a population of 10,000 or more and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated; 6 = Town and Fringe less sparse: OA falls within the Town and Fringe category and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated; 7 = Village less sparse: OA falls within the Village category and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated; 8 = Hamlet and Isolated Dwelling less sparse: OA falls within the Hamlet and Isolated Dwelling category and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated. Scotland The urban/rural classification in Scotland is consistent with the Scottish Executive s core definition of rurality which defines settlements of 3,000 or less people to be rural. It also classifies areas as remote based on drive times from settlements of 10,000 or more people. Postcodes have been assigned to the urban or rural category on an individual basis, based upon data received from GROS: 1 = Large Urban Area: Settlement of over 125,000 people; 2 = Other Urban Area: Settlement of 10,000 to 125,000 people; 3 = Accessible Small Town: Settlement of 3,000 to 10,000 people, within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more; 4 = Remote Small Town: Settlement of 3,000 to 10,000 people, with a drive time of 30 to 60 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more; 5 = Very Remote Small Town: Settlement of 3,000 to 10,000 people, with a drive time of over 60 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more; 6 = Accessible Rural: Settlement of less than 3,000 people, within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more; 7 = Remote Rural: Settlement of less than 3,000 people, with a drive time of 30 to 60 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more; 8 = Very Remote Rural: Settlement of less than 3,000 people, with a drive time of over 60 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more. Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland, an eight band categorisation of settlements was introduced in February These categories range from Band A (Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area) to Band H (Small Village, Hamlet or Open Countryside) with bands A E being classed as urban and bands F H being classed as rural. The DOE (Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland) Planning Service statutory settlement development limits have been used as the geographical delineation of settlements: A = Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area; B = Derry Urban Area; C = Large Town: 18,000 and under 75,000 people; Office for National Statistics 14

15 D = Medium Town: 10,000 and under 18,000 people; E = Small Town: 4,500 and under 10,000 people; F = Intermediate Settlement: 2,250 and under 4,500 people; G = Village: 1,000 and under 2,250 people; H = Small Village, Hamlet or Open Countryside: less than 1,000 people. 25. Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies England and Wales Parliamentary constituencies relate to those defined by the Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007, the Parliamentary Constituencies (England) (Amendment) Order 2008 and the Parliamentary Constituencies (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2008, and which came into effect at the May 2010 General Election. No further changes are envisaged until Scotland The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004, passed by the UK parliament in July 2004, came into effect upon the dissolution of the last UK parliament and breaks the linkage between UK parliamentary constituencies and Scottish parliamentary constituencies. This Act has enabled the Westminster Government to reduce the number of Scottish constituencies in the UK parliament in line with recommendations made by the Boundary Commission for Scotland following its Fifth Periodical Review of Constituencies (December 2004). The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 2005 details the reduction of the number of constituencies for the UK parliament from 72 to 59 Scottish seats. The changes bring the size of Scottish constituencies more into line with the size of English seats. English constituencies currently contain nearly 70,000 voters on average, compared to the Scottish average of 53,500. Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland the commission's Fifth Periodical Report on Parliamentary Constituencies outlined changes to and the composition of constituencies in In practice the new parliamentary constituencies are not very different to their predecessors. As before there are 18 constituencies, all retaining the same name. In the main, the boundary amendment process has involved the reassigning of existing electoral wards from one constituency into a neighbouring constituency. The only exception concerns Derryaghy ward within Lisburn City local government district which previously resided entirely within Lagan Valley county constituency. It has now been split into two separate wards - Derryaghy (North) and Derryaghy (South), the former now included in Belfast West borough constituency, the latter remaining where it was. Details of the code ranges are included in the Record Specification at Annex A. 26. Former Cancer Networks Cancer Networks were the organisational model for delivering improvements in cancer services. Initially 34 Cancer Networks were developed to bring together networks of cancer care that included health service providers and commissioners through all levels in the health service including Strategic Health Authorities, acute and primary care and the voluntary sector. Following a number of local reorganisations there were 28 Cancer Networks in England before they were abolished on 31 March 2013, being replaced by Strategic Clinical Networks (SCN). Wales had two similar organisations, which were retained. The resident population of each Cancer Network ranged from 690,000 to 3 million people. The 'CANNET' field identifies the postcodes included in each former Cancer Network and each is defined in terms of whole LSOAs as agreed by consultation with DH Cancer Action Team and Office for National Statistics 15

16 directors of the cancer networks. Details of the code ranges are included in the Record Specification at Annex A. 27. Cancer Registries There are currently 8 regional cancer registries in England with resident populations of between 2.7 and 11.6 million people and 3 national registries - one for each of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Cancer registries collect and quality assure detailed population-based data on cancer incidence and survival to provide a time series database. Information is collated from various sources including hospitals, cancer centres, treatment centres, hospices, private hospitals, cancer screening programmes, other cancer registers, general practices, nursing homes and death certificates. Cancer registries in England are also required to collect the cancer registration items for the National Cancer Dataset. The 'CANREG' field identifies the postcodes included in each cancer registry and each is assigned in terms of whole LSOAs. Details of the code ranges are included in the Record Specification at Annex A. 28. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) CCGs are groups of GPs that are responsible for designing local health services in England by commissioning or buying health and care services, and all GP practices have to belong to a CCG. They came into effect on 1 April 2013 and are built from 2011 LSOAs. There are currently 207 CCGs. 29. NHS England (Regions) (NHSER) NHSERs (formerly NHS Commissioning Regions - NHS CR) are sub-divisions of the NHS commissioning board. There are four NHS ERs in England and they were renamed from NHS CRs in May The NHS CRs were formed on 1 April 2013, replacing pan SHAs, and are responsible for providing clinical and professional leadership at sub-national level. They are also responsible for the co-ordination of planning, operational management and emergency preparedness at sub-national level and undertaking direct commissioning functions and processes. 30. NHS England (Region, Local Offices) (NHSRLO) NHSRLOs (formerly NHS Regions (Geography) - NHS RG, formerly NHS Area Teams NHS AT) are sub-divisions of the NHS commissioning board. There were 25 NHS ATs in England which were formed on 1 April 2013, becoming 13 NHS RGs on 1 April 2015 and increasing to 14 NHS RGs on 1 April 2016 before becoming RLOs in May They are responsible for commissioning primary care services and also managing local partnerships and stakeholder relationships. 31. Strategic Clinical Networks (SCN) SCNs were formed on 1 April There are 13 SCNs on the NHSPD (which includes two London areas), covering England, with former Cancer Networks covering Wales and the Isle of Man Census Output Areas (OA) 2001 Census OAs were built from clusters of adjacent unit postcodes but as they reflected the characteristics of the actual census data they could not be generated until after data processing. They were designed to have similar population sizes and be as socially homogenous as possible (based on tenure of household and accommodation type) - note though that homogeneity was not used as a factor in Scotland. Urban/rural mixes were avoided where possible (i.e. OAs preferably consisted entirely of urban postcodes or entirely of rural postcodes). They had approximately regular shapes and tended to be constrained by obvious boundaries such as major roads. The OAs were required to have a specified minimum size to ensure the confidentiality of data. Office for National Statistics 16

17 England and Wales In England and Wales OAs were maintained after the 2011 Census so that they could be adjusted where the populations had changed significantly. Where an OA had breached its upper threshold of 625 population or 250 households it was split down to create a number of smaller OAs. Where an OA had breached its lower threshold of 100 population or 40 households it was merged with an adjacent OA to create a geography that was within threshold. OAs created as part of the 2011 Census maintenance are based on postcodes as at Census Day 2011 while the unmaintained OAs will still reflect the postcodes as at Census Day The minimum OA size is 40 resident households and 100 resident persons but the recommended size was rather larger at 125 households. These size thresholds meant that unusually small wards and parishes were incorporated into larger OAs. In total there are 181,408 OAs in England (171,372) and Wales (10,036). National Statistics policy is that estimates published for any geographical area are aggregations of whole OAs (the lowest geographical level for which census estimates are produced). This policy ensures that estimates can be released for any area that contains at least one OA, in that it will contain the minimum population to ensure confidentiality. Eighteen wards have a very small population and have been assigned to a 'parent' OA (see Annex B for details). In 2003, OAs fitted within the boundaries of 2003 statistical wards (and parishes) but this relationship had not been maintained for 2011 due to the high levels of administrative geography boundary change. In 2003 postcodes that straddled an electoral ward/division (or parish) boundary were split between two or more OAs. This scenario is now more prevalent as the postcodes have changed during the intercensal period without this being reflected within the OA hierarchy. Scotland OAs for the 2011 Census were created as groups of postcodes nesting as well as possible into the following geographies, in descending order of preference (when not all postcodes in the OA belong to a single combination of these area types). - Council Area - The 2010 Locality dataset The main aim governing this order of geographies was to give continuity with the 2001 OAs while ensuring, as far as possible, that 2011 OAs fitted into the appropriate locality (urban area) which are seen as an increasingly important statistical area. Where possible, postcodes which were excluded from the 2010 Locality dataset, but subsequently met the population density criteria for inclusion in a locality, were included in an OA in the locality or grouped to form a new urban OA. The majority of 2011 OAs are of similar size to those used in 2001 to allow as much comparison as possible with the 2001 Census data. Where a 2001 OA dropped below the 2011 minimum thresholds for confidentiality (50 persons and 20 households) e.g. because of housing demolitions, it was merged with a neighbouring 2001 OA. In addition, 2001 OAs that increased in size, particularly those that exceeded the 2011 recommended maximum threshold (approximately 78 households), were split where possible into two or more OAs. Northern Ireland Updated 2011 Census OAs are called Small Areas and are re-coded to 9-character format. There are 4,537 small areas in Northern Ireland Census Super Output Areas (SOA) and Scottish Data and Intermediate Zones (DZ & IZ) SOAs exist in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; the Scottish equivalents are DZs and IZs. Office for National Statistics 17

18 England and Wales The Lower Layer SOAs (LSOA) were designed with a mean population figure of 1,500 and each consists of a grouping of OAs, typically five. There are 34,753 LSOAs, with an absolute minimum population size of 1,000. The Middle Layer SOAs (MSOA) have a mean population figure of 7,200 (minimum 5,000) and consist of a grouping of LSOAs. MSOAs are constrained by the 2003 local authority boundaries used for 2001 Census outputs. The LSOAs and MSOAs have been maintained as part of the 2011 Census OA maintenance. As with OAs, they have been split or merged where they have breached predefined population and household thresholds. Scotland DZs are groups of OAs which have populations of between 500 and 1,000 household residents. Redrawn as a result of detailed population information from the 2011 Census, they have been available since November IZs are the geography that sits above DZs and they have a minimum population of 2,500-6,000, which are of a size between the LSOAs and MSOAs in England and Wales. There are 1,279 IZs. Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland SOAs were released in There is one layer of SOA, with a population size between 1,300 and 2,800, similar in size to the LSOAs in England and Wales. 34. Names and Codes The names of all administrative and 'non-health' areas are the standard names adopted for use throughout National Statistics. The names are those used in Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments to publish changes to the administrative and health geographies. The NHSPD uses the Government Statistical Service (GSS) standard 9 character codes for administrative and electoral areas. You are encouraged to adopt these standard names and codes, as they are the recognised standard for National Statistics. Full names and codes listings are supplied with the NHSPD. 35. Directory Specifications Annex A lists the specification for the records on the NHSPD, giving the length and description of each field, the range of possible codes and any qualifying comments. It also provides further general information on each field, such as source, currency and extent of data. 36. Use of the NHSPD The NHSPD (except Northern Ireland data) may be used freely within the NHS under the terms detailed in the 'Postcode products' section on our Licences web page. However, users should note that following agreement with Land and Property Services (LPS) Northern Ireland, Open Government Licensing terms do not apply to NI postcodes; separate licensing terms and conditions now apply in the form of an LPS End User licence, or contact LPS direct for commercial use. 37. Limitations/Data Quality No warranty is given by ONS as to the accuracy or comprehensiveness of the data contained on the NHSPD. We will take reasonable steps to correct any identified errors and, if appropriate, will reissue the NHSPD. Two types of errors may occur in the NHSPD - omissions and inaccuracies. With such a large file it is inevitable that some information will be missing. With monthly postcode updating procedures the Office for National Statistics 18